First Impressions
by Valkyrie Shepherd
Summary: Lorelei Shepard does not think much of this Garrus Vakarian person. Are her first impressions correct?


First Impressions

The doors of the hospital slid open and Lorelei Shepard's hand found her gun without her having to think about it. The pistol clicked, unfolding into readiness with a flick of her thumb, when she heard the raised voices. Her keen eyes took in the situation, even as she heard Kaiden and Ashley's own weapons being drawn. Her two partners weren't as instinctive on the draw as she was. The scene unfolding before her included several thugs (no time for a head count) one of which had already grabbed a terrified doctor and held a gun to her head, barking, "Who are you?"

Simple enough situation, Lorelei thought calculatingly. Were it not for the wild-card crouched behind the half-wall that separated him from the enemies and the captured medical professional. A turian. She knew his name, she'd seen him before. Vakarian? C-sec. Therefor on her side, no need to shoot him. Yet.

Vakarian met Lorelei's eyes and to her surprise an understanding passed between them with the quickness of a glance. She had only previously experienced this kind of rapid, mental communication on the battle field, with soldiers she knew extremely well. The thugs were all looking at her and he needed her to keep it that way. All it took was a few steps to keep their eyes locked on the three humans at the hospital's doorway. "Let her go."

The turian moved with practiced speed and agility, sliding easily around the corner, shooting the man holding the doctor. The criminal was dead before he hit the floor and the woman hurried to get clear as the other thugs attacked. Lorelei and her team took charge, wiping out the rest of the attackers without much trouble.

When the last had been dispatched she turned to the turian, who stood protectively beside the still obviously frightened doctor. "Perfect timing Shepard," he said. He knew her name, she realized. Apparently their first meeting had made a greater impression on him than it had on her. He had been just another C-sec officer. A seemingly uppity one at that. She'd pegged him as a younger man who might be brash and have a strong dislike for following orders. Not the sort of person she bothered to remember. She decided to give him a second chance now. "You gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

She couldn't help but praise the young turian's marksmanship, "You took him down clean, C-sec" she said, careful to keep her voice as clipped and military as ever.

He shifted almost imperceptibly from foot to foot. Most people might not have noticed, but Lorelei was around a lot of soldiers. He was nervous. Not because of the combat, something else was putting him a little on edge. She watched him all the more closely as he spoke, "Sometimes you get lucky." Modesty. Interesting. "Doctor Michel, are you hurt?" he asked suddenly, as though he had briefly forgotten she was there.

"No. I'm okay, thanks to all of you." she said, though she still looked a little unsteady.

Lorelei switched her focus to the doctor, questioning her as to why those men had been threatening her in the first place. Doctor Michel explained that she had aided an injured quarian who might have information about Saren. "They wanted to keep me from telling Garrus."

Lorelei cocked her head. Garrus must have been the turian officer's first name. Pity he had not made more of a first impression on her, she might have remembered. Still, she did recall that he was interested in Saren too. It was his outburst to that effect when they had first met that had made Lorelei pass him off as an impulsive hot-head and forget about him. Still, she had to stay focused. The quarian was in serious danger. She could have berated the doctor for putting the young alien in contact with known crime boss, Fist, but she didn't. It wouldn't help the mission.

When the turian spoke up, saying that Fist worked for Saren, and it was all Lorelei could do to keep her cool. An innocent was out there waiting to get killed by Fist's thugs all because a doctor had made a bad choice. And C-sec? What were they doing about it? Nothing. She caught herself glaring at the officer as though it was personally his fault, even though he was probably the only one actually trying to save the quarian girl.

The turian's voice had an edge of urgency, but he too seemed to be trying to keep his cool. Lorelei realized they were probably both thinking the same thing. She questioned the doctor further, and she could sense the turian tensing. He wanted to get going. He was as eager as she was to rush to the rescue. "Time we paid Fist a visit," Lorelei said, turning to lead her team out the doors.

She felt a hand touch her shoulder and almost knocked it away and landed the turian on his back with a few practiced moves. She didn't like being touched without her permission, and those who did lay a hand on her usually wound up in the medbay. The shrink she had seen after she watched her old team be slaughtered, told her it was part of her PTSD. However you sliced it, it took every once of her will power not to land the turian on his ass. He must have sensed this because his hand snapped back as though she'd bitten him. Still, he pressed on with his words, "This is your show, Shepard. But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you."

She almost retorted. Almost. There was a finality about his words 'I'm coming with you', that gave her pause. She should have put him down then and there, using her most military voice she could reduce this over-eager C-sec officer to a quivering mass on the floor, but she didn't. Instead, she was curious. "You're a turian. Why do you want to bring him down?"

His mandibles bristled as he answered. There was a definite edge of anger in his voice now. "I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation, but I knew what was really going on. Saren's a traitor to the council and a disgrace to my people!"

Though she could feel her team shifting uneasily behind her, Lorelei gave the turian the answer she knew he wanted. "Welcome aboard, C-sec."

The rest of the mission didn't exactly go by the book, but that was the way Lorelei liked it. Certainly she could fall in line, salute and stand straight for officers she respected, but when given the chance she always picked her own path. Together with a krogan (whom she felt a connection with almost at once), they rescued the young quarian, Tali, who did indeed have ground breaking information on the Geth and Saren's possible plotting.

To say Lorelei was tired when she returned to the Normandy was an understatement. Adding to the stress of saving lives, gaining new team members and dealing with the council, who would rather stick their fingers in their ears and sing loudly than understand what she was saying to them, she was also now the captain on the Normandy. That felt so wrong it left a bad taste in her mouth. Anderson was her captain and always would be. She resolved to only think of herself as an acting captain. He would be back, standing on the deck of his beautiful ship again in no time. At least if she had anything to say about it.

Sleeping in her new cabin was impossible. She was used to a noisy barracks, and the gentle hum of the ship was certainly not enough to lull her off to dreamland. Pulling on a work uniform she heaved a weary sigh and decided to head below decks and tinker with the mako a bit. Maybe she could get a little extra oomph out of that cursed machine before she was forced to take it planet-side on a mission. Funny how she hated driving the damned thing, but loved working on it. She was just a no good, earth born, grease monkey at heart, she thought wryly as she stood alone in the slow moving elevator.

The hold was quiet and semi-dark. She could hear Wrex's breathing, which might have been snoring, but for a krogan it seemed more like peaceful slumber. She smiled faintly to herself as she grabbed a tool kit and headed for the mako. To her surprise she reached the vehicle only to find legs sticking out from under it. Judging by the shape of the legs it was the turian who was currently head first below her mako. She stood for a moment, unsure, then, smiling broadly, she decided she might mess with him a bit. See if he could take it. She hooked her foot on his and pulled him out easily, as he was laying on a wheeled trolly made for sliding under vehicles.

His eyes may have been small compared to a human's, but they sure got large when he realized what had happened. He was still gripping a wrench as he looked up at her, like like the yeoman she'd once caught smuggling candy bars into boot camp. "C-sec," she said in her fiercest voice, while still remaining hushed enough not to wake Wrex. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I was...I...I..." She'd definitely caught him flat footed. After a moment he just clamped his mouth shut. She couldn't blame him. A good solider knew that if you were about to get disciplined by a commanding officer, it would go better for you if you kept your gob shut.

She planted her hands on her hips, watching him struggle hurriedly to his feet, made all the more awkward by the trolly, which almost made him fall over again. However, once he was free of the contraption she stood at attention like a human soldier. She raised an eyebrow. Who had taught him that? "So, C-sec," she began, ready to lay in to him with her drill sergeant routine. She didn't even get that far.

"Please don't call me that, Ma'am," he said, keeping eyes front and posture stiff. Even though he was wearing oil splattered civilian clothes, he looked every bit the soldier.

"I beg your pardon?" Lorelei snapped, though she felt suddenly deflated.

"Please don't call me C-sec, Ma'am. If it's alright, would you just use my first name?"

She stood dumbfounded for a moment. She wasn't sure how to react. Finally she decided. She mimicked his straight backed posture, "very well. Garrus it is then. And you can stop calling me Ma'am. Most people around here call me Shepard."

"Yes, Shepard," he barked, clearly starting to play along rather than continue to think he was in trouble.

"Is there something wrong with this vehicle, Garrus?" she asked. She allowed herself to relax, and so did he.

"No, nothing wrong, I just like tinkering with machinery." He noticed the tool box that she had set down to do her hard-ass commander bit and gave her a questioning look.

She smiled, gesturing towards the mako. He was grinning as well. At least, she hoped he was. Hard to tell with turians. She went and got another trolly and the two of them were soon under the mako, gleefully modifying the gear ratio of the transmission to give it extra mountain-climbing ability. The task would take hours and neither of them cared.

They barely spoke, but that was alright with them both. Lorelei found that she didn't even need to ask for a tool, he would plop it into her hand before she could even open her mouth. Shoulder to shoulder they lay, and as she worked she thought of her first impression of the young turian. He may have been a year or two her junior, but he was certainly not turning out to be the brash, hot-headed C-sec toady she had thought him. She already knew that he would be coming on the next mission, to really test his abilities, but she was sure he would succeed. Of course she could not guess then what he would come to mean to her in the future, but the bond was already forming.


End file.
